Your home address.
Your cell phone number.
Your email address.
We typically refer to these items as personally identifying information (PII). We protect judges, police and leaders in federal government agencies every day by searching for and removing this kind of content online, so it cannot be weaponized with malicious intent.
But if you think that’s the extent of the information now being collected and shared about you and everyone you know by more than 5,000 data brokers, think again.
Companies you’ve never heard of probably know more about you than your closest friends and relatives. A recent Quartz article took a deep dive into the kinds of data companies collect. Here’s what they found.
Identifying Content
It’s not just name, address and phone number. It’s your social security number, your driver’s license number, and the birthdays of everyone in your household. They know your age, your height, your weight, your race and religion, your marital status, your education level, the party of choice on your voter registration, what languages you speak, where you work and what you do there.
Your Legal History
Have you ever been arrested? Filed for bankruptcy? Court judgments for or against you? They know.
Your Social Media Activity
They know how often you are active on social media platforms, and who your friends are. They’ve seen the posts and photos you’ve uploaded.
Your Likes/Dislikes
They know what kind of clothing you like, what movies you’ve watched, which television stations you land on most, and your magazine subscriptions. They know what charities you support, what sports you play and which teams you root for. Do you have any pets? Don’t bother to answer – they already know.
Your Financial Data
They know about your investments, your credit cards, your credit rating, any loans you’ve taken, what you pay in taxes, and which way your net worth is headed.
Your Transportation Data
They know what kind of cars you own and drive, whether you also own a boat or motorcycle, and even when you might be ready to buy a new car. They also know where you like to travel, and how often you go on vacation. Pretty soon they may offer to drive you to the airport.
How Are You Feeling?
Don’t ask your doctor – ask a data broker. Because they also collect information on whether your smoke or drink, take prescription drugs, exercise and watch what you eat, and if you have any allergies.
Every Dossier Starts With One Piece of Information
How do they know all of these things about you? About everyone? It all begins with where we started this piece: your home address – the one you’ve provided to countless online forms to donate to an organization or have a pizza delivered. Every piece of data you freely provide is collected, paired with other data, and compiled into a profile that contains all of the above information, and more.
Do You Have a Right To Control Your Information?
In some states you do. But getting it done yourself is a long and difficult process.
Many of the reasons this data is collected are benign – it is shared with companies who want to sell products and services to prospects that are already interested in what they offer. But too often – far too often – easy accessibility to this content has led to judges being killed in their driveways, families being scammed out of their retirement savings, and organizations suffering costly ransomware attacks through customized phishing emails that appear authentic.
Protect yourself.
Protect your family.
Protect your workplace.
Your personal content can be weaponized far too easily. Online privacy protection stops that from happening by removing it from the internet – and replacing it with content that cannot be traced back to anyone.
